Residents were yesterday thankful that no one was killed after a ten-wheeler truck crashed into two houses in Guaracara after the brakes reportedly failed.
However, the 70-year-old driver, who works for a private contractor, got pinned in the truck and suffered a broken leg.
Police said the incident occurred around 8.15 am along the Guaracara Tabaquite Road after the driver collected material from a quarry.
The truck was heading down an incline when the driver is believed to have lost control, the truck slammed into the concrete porch area of a home, uprooted a utility pole, then crashed into a few balusters on the front stairs of another home before coming to a stop in the yard.
Residents rushed to the driver’s assistance, but he was pinned in the vehicle so they had no choice but to wait for the Fire Service to free him using the Jaws of Life.
Eyewitness Russel Santana believes that God saved their lives.
He recalled that he had just parked his car when he saw the truck coming down the road at “full speed.”
He said there was a van heading in the opposite direction.
“Thank God he (the driver) didn’t crash into the van but he missed it by about two feet. However, he crashed into the houses and stopped.
Thank Jesus for saving lives. It could have been worse.”
He said they tried to help the driver who was hysterical and saying, “Take me out of here, I feel I will die”.
“A few of us tried with a jack to pull the dash off him to ease the strain on his leg until the fire and ambulance services arrived.”
Santana said both he and the driver were lucky to be alive. “God answers prayers and we must give God thanks,” he said.
Meanwhile, Helen Fyfield, a Cepep worker, was at work when her son called to say hat a truck had crashed into their home.
She said when she saw the destruction, “My heart leap. Everything we work for just came crumbling down. I know is material thing. The first question I asked is if the driver of the truck is okay.”
Lamenting that it took almost three decades for her to construct her home, Fyfield said she is now unsure whether it was safe for her and her son to continue staying in the house.
“The whole house had been shaken up. It not safe. Upstairs there it loose, I’m not sure if it’s livable because it not safe.”
A relative of Chandra Harrypersad, 66, who owned the other property said she was traumatised.
However, she said only the balusters in the front staircase were damaged.
The owner of the truck, Adesh Maharaj, said the vehicle was properly maintained and was on the road every day.
Maharaj said the driver had 30 years of experience driving trucks and was a safe driver. He promised to assist the Fyfield family with their home.
